Yes, May is the best. Winter is certainly gone and spring is firmly established - at least it is south of the notches. Up around Errol it is still tinged with winter. What to do when you want a little jump-start to the season - head south! No, not Florida - Connecticut! The Farmington River to be precise. Even down there the season is lagging a bit - the Hendricksons usually start to emerge down there by the third week of April. I had a client trip scheduled for Tuesday, so Stan and I did an advance trip on Monday. Not a lot happening in the morning, but by mid-afternoon a few mayflies started popping up. Stan got his nice brown on a Hendrickson nymph just as the hatch started. I succeeded in fooling a fish into striking my dry Hendrickson and then breaking it off on the hookset. Cest la vie! Better to have fooled him and lost, rather than not to have fooled him at all! Tuesday turned out to be an even better day than Monday. Many more fish rising and eating the emerging mayflies. The river is loaded with big browns and feisty 'bows. The hatch should last another week to ten days, so tie up some pink size 12 mayflies and head down to New Hartford!
In addition to some scouting expeditions to the Souhegan, Piscataquog, Nissitissit and Squannacook Rivers, we have run a couple sessions of our Northeast Fly Fishing School. We had our first ever Intermediate/Advanced class last weekend and we had a beginner class earlier in April and have three more beginner classes scheduled from this weekend through early June. All the classes are full except a few open spots in the June 4 & 5 class. We haven't scheduled another Intermediate class yet. but if you are interested, let me know.
Tomorrow I am off to the Contocook River to check things out for a couple trips next week. Tight lines!
While I prefer the little waters, which there are many along the path of the Farmy. I have several angler friends who fish it often. They all say they have done well. Many browns up to 24 inches. So yes, it's worth the trip.
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